Amid controversy, Johnson lifts KU past ISU in OT

AMES, Iowa – Elijah Johnson has been booed before, sometimes by his own fans.

Usually it’s more like a quiet grumbling or the clattering of keys on various Internet forums, the methods people have used to declare that Johnson wasn’t fit for the office of point guard at Kansas.

It was a different kind of sound that greeted Johnson as he made his way off the court at Hilton Coliseum late Monday night. This was a full-throated boo, amplified by the frustration of a night’s worth of calls and no-calls. It was the way people boo when someone has just ripped their hearts out. Johnson stared straight ahead and took it, stepping past the cups and cheap plastic megaphones that had flown from the stands on his way off the court.

A few minutes later, Johnson emerged from the locker room and offered an apology.

"I want to apologize to the head coach of Iowa State for that last play of the game," Johnson said. "I shouldn’t have dunked that ball, and right now I’m feeling that. I should have dribbled that ball out. I just got caught up in the moment. I saw an open basket and I attacked it.

"I kind of got tunnel vision, and I guess it was rubbing off that whole end of the game."

Johnson was referring to the breakaway dunk that capped No. 6 KU’s 108-96 overtime victory and punctuated a 39-point explosion by an unlikely hero. A few weeks ago, coach Bill Self was wishing he could play without guards. Monday, he was talking about Johnson’s performance in the context of the best ever at Kansas.

"Wilt had some pretty good ones," Self said, "but that will go down as one of the better games that any guard has ever played at Kansas."

Cyclone fans weren’t booing Johnson because of the dunk, at least not primarily. They weren’t even booing him, really, as much as they were booing the idea of what had just happened. A player had just come into their gym and done something magical, aided by a few calls destined for controversy.

The stark truth is that Johnson’s night could have ended much differently, with a charging call and a turnover in the closing seconds of regulation. Johnson had just nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, bringing the Jayhawks within two after the Cyclones had held a five-point lead with 45 seconds to play.

With time ticking down, Johnson drove to the basket and plowed into Iowa State’s Georges Niang. Officials called neither a block nor a charge, but Niang was whistled moments later while lying on the floor and fighting for the loose rebound. That call – a phantom, Cyclone fans will contend – allowed Johnson to step to the line and sink two free throws that tied the game with 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation.

"I guess I can’t get too far into that call," Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said without a trace of emotion. "It is what it is. It happened. You’ve got move past it. I thought George made a heck of a play by stepping in there and drawing contact, but hey, it happens in this game. It didn’t go our way."

This was a haunting feeling for the Cyclones, who saw Ben McLemore bank in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime earlier this year in Lawrence. The Jayhawks (24-4, 12-3) found a different way to reach OT this time -- surviving 17 3-pointers from the Cyclones, whose 41 attempts were the most ever against KU -- but the outcome was the same.

Once the game got to overtime, momentum was squarely on KU's side.

"We’ve played this team two times to overtime, a top-five team in the country," Hoiberg said. "It’s unfortunate that we came away with zero wins against them."

Johnson scored KU’s final eight points of regulation and the first four of overtime, then delivered the dagger with a deep 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 54 seconds remaining. He had 30 points after halftime, including 12 in OT, and finished with the most for a Jayhawk since Terry Brown scored 42 against North Carolina State in 1991.

"I blacked out," said Johnson, who was 13-for-22 from the floor. "That’s the best way to speak about it. I blacked out."

How great was Johnson’s performance? It effectively turned Self’s 500th victory into back-page news, which was OK with Self.

"I don’t think it really means that much," Self said of the milestone.

Johnson deserved a night like this, Self said, given everything he’s been through this season. He battled sore knees and turnovers and took the brunt of the blame when the Jayhawks lost three straight games earlier this month. He was criticized publicly by his coach and privately by almost everyone else. But Self stuck with his senior point guard, and Monday the patience was rewarded.

"He’s had such an up-and-down senior year in part due to health and never complains or makes excuses and takes the criticism from our fans that do dish out the criticism," Self said. "He just keeps moving."

When Johnson heard the boos Monday, they'd never sounded so sweet.

"It takes a little push to a go a long way sometimes," he said, "and I feel that little push taking me real far right now."

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